The telecoms company, which has a brand value of has a value of $27.3bn, according to the report, is closely followed by HSBC ($22bn) and Shell ($18.5bn).

BrandZ’s first ranking of the top 50 most valuable brands in the UK is dominated by telecoms, finance and utilities companies, as highlighted by the top 10 (below).

1. Vodafone
2. HSBC
3. Shell
4. BT
5. BP
6. Sky
7. Tesco
8. Lipton
9. Barclays
10. O2

Commissioned by Kantar, the ranking combines financial data from Bloomberg with the opinions of 120,000 UK consumers, and mirrors the methodology used in the research company's top 100 global brands ranking. Brands ranked must have been originally created in the UK and either be owned by a publicly listed company traded on a stock exchange, or have their financials published in the public domain.

The ranking also found that the top 50 companies earn over half of their revenues outside the UK ( 54%). For the top 10 performing brands, that figure is higher, at 63%.

The UK’s top brands lag their global counterparts on five measures of long-term financial growth, according to the report. The top 10 have grown by 66% in a decade, compared with the global top 10’s growth of 249%. The report also found that they are seen as less innovative. While the top brands are household names, consumers do not perceive them as innovative.

Louise Ainsworth, Kantar Millward Brown’s UK chief executive, said the report highlighted the need for British brands to “refresh what they stand for to make it relevant to today”.

She added: “They should be quicker to capitalise on technology to make consumers’ lives easier, and communicate their innovations effectively to build perceptions.”